A Winter Weekend Getaway

by Ellie B.

Winter on Cape Cod can be notoriously hum-drum for us year-round residents – after the Holidays, it’s tempting to hunker down at home and lay low until the daylight hours once again outlast the average work day.  That used to be just fine with me, but now that we have a baby in the family ‘veging’ out at home every night isn’t going to cut it.

This winter we gladly welcomed out-of-town family members anxious to share in Baby’s first birthday. It was going to be far too crowded in our little ‘salt box’ house, so naturally we offered to reserve hotel rooms for our visitors.  It would have been easy to book a local hotel/motel near our home in Falmouth, but the Cape Codder Resort & Spa in Hyannis seemed like an ideal option.

As Cape residents, we are certainly familiar with the Cape Codder – we attended a wedding there; have been to a few business luncheons and dinner events in the Ballroom; I’ve been to the Beach Plum Spa a few times; most recently I went with some girlfriends to see Jon Stetson there, and brought the baby to see Santa and the Enchanted Village, but we had never stayed overnight.  So we decided to reserve a room for ourselves as well as our family members and make a little get-away out of it!

While checking online for room rates, we noticed that there happened to be a “Not-So-Polar Plunge” package…this first-time event was a fundraiser for Housing Assistance Corporation on Cape Cod and involved a plunge into the Cape Codder’s new heated outdoor pool. Bonus!

We were very impressed with the cleanliness and quality of every part of our stay.  The rooms are super spacious with plenty of room for a port-a-crib, and the in-room refrigerator was so convenient for traveling with a little one.  The staff in the Hearth & Kettle were extremely accommodating of our 1 year-old and even sang their own rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ to him and my Aunt at dinner on Saturday – complete with a cupcake!  After dinner, we stopped in the Grand Cru for a few minutes to check out the live band – the place was hoppin’!  Turns out lots of other Cape Codders already know about this great place and all it has to offer in the winter months.

On Sunday morning, we went down to the outdoor pool for the Not-So-Polar Plunge. What a fun event!  A few of the plungers were even dressed up in silly costumes.  The pool, which is actually salt water, was about 85 degrees and felt fantastic – I didn’t want to get out! As if that isn’t awesome enough, there is also a hot tub…ahhhh! It felt great to take a dip outside in January and to know we were helping support such a great local organization.

The Not=so Polar Plunge

All in all, it really did feel like we had a weekend get-away even though we only live a couple of towns away.  Next year we’re thinking of inviting more friends and family and having Baby’s 2^nd birthday party at the Cape Codder Resort!  As for the rest of this winter, we’ll be sure to catch a Dinner Theater show (World Gone Crazy Comedy Band!) and maybe even stay another night for just the two of us.